


To Break a Heart

by grasslandgirl



Series: Prompts and Drabbles [5]
Category: American Vandal (TV)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, drabble prompt, i love you prompt, thank you hannah montana for the plot idea, thank you rachel for the prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 10:16:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17020794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grasslandgirl/pseuds/grasslandgirl
Summary: reposted from a tumblr prompt: #10- [I love you] not said to me + Eldonado---Peter was right all along. He just didn't know being right could hurt like this.





	To Break a Heart

**Author's Note:**

> this is a prompt from the always incredible @thotdagas on tumblr, and it entirely out of hand!  
> you can find the original post and prompt list on my tumblr, @grasslandgirl  
> and here are the links to the youtube videos i had for inspiration lmao (spoilers!)  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_H3omU26m0 [9:27-10:11]  
> and   
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaAzls37ioc [1:09-1:54]  
> thanks for reading! <3

Peter’s heart hurt. Before now, he didn’t know that hearts could  _hurt_ , not like this. They were a muscle, yes, and people got heart burn and heart attacks and other medical problems that likely caused their hearts to hurt. But all the stuff in the movies and in songs, about a broken heart hurting so bad you can feel it? Peter always thought it was just some dramatic bullshit. Which was a lot, coming from him.

But now he was forced to- begrudgingly- admit, that they were right. A broken heart did hurt. Like something was shoved into his heart, or like there was an empty chasm in his chest. It hurt like nothing he had felt before. Peter bit his lip and turned and walked away.

What he had seen and overheard echoed in his head, repeating over and over until it was all he could see, all he could hear, leaning against the wall in a silent hallway. 

It was Sam, standing in his room, his back to the door. This, at least, hadn’t been surprising- shouldn’t have been- given that it was Sam’s house. Gabi had been sitting opposite him, on Sam’s bed, her eyes locked onto Sam. This hadn’t been overly surprising either, Gabi and Sam were close friends and she wandered into the Ecklund house unannounced about as often as Peter did. 

Peter had paused in the doorway and opened his mouth to speak, hoping that he wasn’t interrupting anything important by barging into his friends’ conversation. But before he could say or do anything, Sam cut him off. 

“Ok, I’ve been sitting on this for a while,” Peter knew he shouldn’t be hovering, silently listening in on a private conversation. But he also had the instincts of a nosy documentarian, and his interest in what Sam was saying to Gabi was stronger than his moral impulse. “And I know I should have said something earlier, but I didn’t want anything to change,” Sam continued. “But I can’t keep pretending I don’t feel the way I do, so I’m just going to out and say it.” The alarm bells were ringing in Peter’s head at this point, but he was in too deep to back out now. 

“I love you,” Sam said to Gabi, and Peter’s world all but shattered.

Back in sophomore year, if you had asked Peter, he would have sworn that Sam liked Gabi as more than a friend. But things had changed since then, they had both grown up, Sam had come out as bisexual, and something in their friendship had shifted. 

From the outside, it probably hadn’t looked much different. They still bickered and teased and spend all odd hours of the day together, just as they always did. But now, Sam would lean his head against Peter’s shoulder while they sat on the couch watching a movie. His hand would linger, a second longer than it used to, when he handed Peter his phone. Peter could feel Sam’s eyes on him, soft and familiar, even from across the classroom. He hadn’t said anything, hadn’t wanted to jinx it, but it had felt like they were building up to  _something_. 

Something bigger than them, something more than just friendship, something Peter had been longing for for years now. And for a moment, Peter had finally let himself  _hope_. 

Just to have it all crashing down.

Because he was wrong. And of course he was, why would someone like Sam- funny and smart and kind- choose Peter? Why would he have feelings for Peter when Peter knew he had loved Gabi for years now. Peter had been saying it, thinking it, believing it for ages. And when he finally let himself slip, let himself believe that  _maybe_ he was wrong,  _maybe_ Sam didn’t love Gabi,  _maybe_ he had a shot- it all came crashing down around him.

Peter slumped further against the wall. He thought it was the one outside of Sam’s sister Kara’s room, and he hoped that she wasn’t inside- though it would be just his luck at this point for her to come out and discover him, midway through a breakdown. Peter just wanted to slip out the back door and disappear home, where he could wallow in heartbreak in peace.

The one good thing about him showing up at Sam’s unannounced, at least- he didn’t have to face Sam before running away like a coward. Sam didn’t ever have to know that he was here at all.

* * *

 

“I love you,” Sam said, trying his best to maintain eye contact with Gabi, “And it’s fine if you don’t feel the same way, Pete, but I can’t not say anything any longer.  _I love you, Peter._ ” 

Gabi’s face twisted into an expression Sam knew meant she was trying her absolute hardest not to laugh- and was failing. 

“Gabs!” He groaned, collapsing face-first onto the bed beside her. He felt more than heard her dissolve into giggles. “You’re supposed to be taking this seriously.” He mumbled into his pillow before turning on his side to face her. “How am I supposed to tell Peter this if I can’t even tell it to you? And you laughing at me every time I try isn’t going to help!”

“I’m sorry,” Gabi did her best to sober up, schooling her expressions into a look of soft compassion. “I know you’re struggling with this, and I’m sorry I keep laughing.” She broke out into a grin, “But I can’t help it that I find you confessing your heart to me-as-Peter intolerably hilarious.”

“You’re the worst best friend,” Sam grumbled, shoving her shoulder.

“You love me!”

“Shut  _up!_ ”

* * *

 

Peter was ignoring him. Which meant that he was pissed about something, because Peter had two modes when he was angry- sullen distance, and exploding in your face. The thing was, Sam had no idea  _why_ Peter was pissed at him in the first place. 

It had been three days since Peter had last texted him or talked to him normally, which mean Sam had suffered through three days of ignored memes and awkward classes. And he was sick of it. 

If Peter was going to be pissed at him, Sam wanted to know why. Also, Peter ignoring him was really fucking up Sam’s plans to confess at their next movie night the following weekend, so.

“Peter! Peter Maldonado!” Sam yelled, banging on the front door of his house, “Either come let me in or I swear to god I’ll go dig your spare key out of the backyard!” Which was true. The Maldonados had kept their spare key in the same place in the backyard since they had moved here, and Sam had known where it was since the fifth grade. 

The front door suddenly yanked open, and there was Peter, in all his sullen, pissed off glory.  _How on earth_ , Sam wondered, d _oes he manage to look beautiful while he’s pissed at me?_

“What do you want, Sam?” Peter asked, determinedly looking past Sam, over his shoulder to firmly avoid eye contact.

“I want to know why you’re pissed at me,” Sam responded, crossing his arms. He had long since discovered that bluntness worked best with Peter in general, but especially when he was angry. 

Peter’s eyes darted to Sam’s. His frown tightened, and he ground out a tight, “I’m just dealing with something.”

“Dude,” Sam said, “you’ve got to talk to me when you’re pissed, cause I don’t know what I did to make you mad, ok? So if you’re expecting me to apologize or something, that’s gonna be difficult given that I don’t know what you’re worked up about.”

“You don’t have to apologize for anything, you didn’t  _do_ anything.” Peter said, somehow managing to look angrier than he had before. 

“What do you mean I didn’t do anything? If I didn’t do anything, then why are you pissed at me?”

“I don’t have to tell you.”

“Pete! What the fuck? Quit being an asshole and just talk to me! Why are you so angry?”

“Because you’re in love with Gabi!” Peter shouted, and the moment froze.

All the anger in Peter’s face sloughed off like rainwater, leaving him looking sad and vulnerable. Sam stood for a second in shock, before he whispered, “Why the fuck do you think I’m in love with Gabi?”

“I overheard you telling her-” Peter started to speak, until Sam cut him off.

“Pete, I’m in love with  _you_.”

Silence fell over them like a blanket, and for the first time, it struck Sam that they were having this argument, this conversation on Peter’s front porch. And that he had just told his best friend he loved him for the first time in the middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday. 

Sam waited, but for the first few seconds Peter didn’t say anything. “Pete,” Sam said quickly, starting on damage control for their friendship and his pride, “I-”

“I love you too, Sam.” Peter said, so softly Sam would have missed it, if not for the hopeful expression on Peter’s face. One so full of love and happiness that Sam would have had to be blind to miss it. 

“Yeah?” Sam breathed, not quite wanting to believe it.

“Yeah,” Peter nodded, grinning and shining like the sun. 

And then Sam kissed him.

And maybe it was on Peter’s front porch, maybe it was a standard Wednesday afternoon, maybe the kiss was awkward and sloppy at first, but Sam couldn’t bring himself to care, because he was kissing Peter Maldonado. And Peter was kissing him back. 

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is @grasslandgirl and I'm still open to suggestions/prompts, the og post this is from is tagged under asks so please feel free to send me a message if there are any prompts you're dying to read! (american vandal or otherwise)  
> thanks as always for reading! xoxo


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